Kenyans have decided that ICC is of little consequence

At the height of the multi-party elections campaign, Kenneth Matiba came up with the slogan ‘let the people decide’ in order to scuttle efforts to step him down for Oginga Odinga in the 1992 presidential campaign.

Raila, a young Turk then, was not amused and told off Matiba, arguing how the latter who was an ordinary member of the party could intimidate them. It divided the opposition down the middle and the people decided. They lost to Moi.

In 2012, when pressure mounted on Uhuru and Ruto to stand down their presidency campaign in view of the pending ICC charges against them, they said it was up to the people of Kenya to decide.

The Raila team of course was opposed to the idea of the two running at all, fearful that Kenyans could decide to elect the duo to the presidency. Well, it happened and the people decided it. Even as we voted for the presidency, it was a referendum on the ICC matter.

When we elected the two, it was clear that we there would be facing challenges on the questions of sovereignty of the nation. The sovereignty of a country rests with its people, who must choose leaders they want.

Uhuru had declared during the campaigns that the ICC matter was a ‘personal’ challenge and that that every individual had such a challenge that would not deter him or her from serving Kenyans in whatever capacity. True, we all have personal challenges every day that impacts on our lives but we face them with patience even as we endeavour to perform our roles in society.

By electing the duo, just what did the people decide in voting Uhuruto in? In my view, Kenyans resolved that the duo were fit to occupy the State House despite the ICC yoke on their neck. It was also a decision that they have reconciled and moved on as a society.

People had decided too that their sovereignty did not matter; the duo could lead the nation from the courts if necessary. In fact, during the presidential debate prior to the elections, the duo indicated they could operate from The Hague using technology. Even as they voted, Kenyans had also decided that the personal challenges of their president would actually be their challenge as a nation because its sovereignty too would be on trial.

And so they came out in their millions to happily welcome Uhuru back from The Hague. To the masses who thronged the routes to cheer him, he was a hero back from the battlefield, the victory or defeat notwithstanding.

They had decided he would be their president even if he sat in the dock. The humiliation of their leaders by a ‘foreign force’ was sufficient reason to rally behind him. The bitterness, anguish and frustration was evident on the President’s face as he addressed the public. Still, the court would not curtail his mandate as a president but it was clearly an irritant.

To the ICC, it matters little what our President or our people think. It has a mandate to execute in the interest of justice for the victims. The President will be summoned to court when they deem fit because Kenyans knew what they were getting into when they went into elections.

All the fear has now gone. He went, he saw and he conquered! After all, it was not as bad as was thought. The world did not come to an end, and life continued in Kenya, with Ruto firmly in the seat. But the President did not savour the moment, sitting in the court without saying a word. Perhaps a feeling of harassment by the court, an indifference to his status and the masses he leads.

They took a gamble — that he would not attend. But he surprised them. After all, the people had decided in 2013!